Process and apparatus for the manufacture of artificial threads



Feb. 16 1926. 1,572,955

E. PRiNCE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIALTHREADS Filed Oct. 1]., 1923 BY: i l-41w ATTOR NH.

3 l i g Patented Feb. 16, 1926.

UNITED STATES PTENT QFFICE.

EDMOND PRINCE, or LYON, FRANCE ASSIGNOR r0 LA socrn'rn POUR LA. FABRI-CATION DE LA SOIE RI-IOZDIASETA, or rams, FRANCE, A CORPORATION orFRANCE.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL THREADS.

Application filed October 11, 1923.

To all u /10m it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMOND PmNon, of Lyon, France, a citizen of theConfederation of Switzerland, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Processes and Apparatus for the Manufacture ofArtificial Threads, of which the following .is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in processes and apparatusfor the manufacture of artificial filaments of all kinds by thegathering together of several fibres obtain-ed by flowing or spinningdownwardly, in an atmosphere, heated or not, of a fluid more or lessviscous, of suitable composition, comprising essentially: (1) a solventor solvent mixture (A) volatile in the operating conditions selected forthe spinning of the said fluid; (2) a body or mixture of bodies (B)suitably selected, nonvolatile in the operative conditions adapted forthe spinning, and which, freed by evaporation from the liquid or mixtureof liquids (A) constitutes the substance of the artificial filament atthe exit of the spinning device. The body or mixture of bodies B may beconstituted, for instance, by an ether, an ester or another derivativeof cellulose, or by a. mixture of these ethers, esters or cellulosederivatives, or yet by a cellulose derivative or mixture of derivativeswith plastifying agents or non-volatile solvents of these derivatives.The mixture may also include in any of the cases above, one or moredefinite substances, added for various purposes, which either remain inthe finished filament, as for instance to dye it, or which are removedsubsequently.

In such processes the essential part of the spinning apparatus comprisesmost general- 1y a vertically placed cage or cell, closed or almostclosed, of suitable height and of horizontal dimensions relativelysmall. At the top is placed the spinning device, hereafter called thedie for the sake of simplicity, and which comprises essentially holes ororifices the diameter of which is generally very small, and the numberof which, relatively high, corresponds to the number of fibres of thesingle filament, or of the filaments in any number which it is desiredto obtain from each spinning apparatus.

The cell is generally the seat of an upward Serial No. 667,872.

current of air or of another gaseous atmosphere, intended to carry offthe vapors of the volatile solvent or solvent mixture (A) outside thecell, by an aperture gcnerah ly situated near the upper portion of thiscell, to lead them, for instance, if desired, to suitable recuperationapparatus.

This atmosphere is often heated to a suitably selected temperature forfacilitating the evaporation of the volatile solvent or solvents (A)without however interfering with the proper working of the spinningapparatus. This heating may be carried out by any suitable means; eitherthe gaseous atmosphere, heated outside the cell by any known means, isintroduced hot at the bottom of the cell, or it is introduced in thelatter at ordinary temperature, the cell containing coils or otherthermal radiators suitably arranged, or still the walls of the cell areconstituted wholly or in part by heating walls according to any knownmeans.

The heating may be carried out or arranged so as to obtain a regularsuitable temperature in the whole of the inside of the cell, or yet soas to obtain different temperatures at diiferent levels of the cell, forinstance, and preferably, less high at the dies, so as to regulate theprop-er working of the spinning apparatus; the regulation of thetemperatures being watched by means of thermometers suitably located.

In such apparatus, the fluid to be spun, brought to the die at asuitable pressure, by any known means, after having passed through, ifrequired, any accessory apparatus such as filters, thermal or pressureregulators, etc., flows by the orifices in the die and falls downwardsthrough the atmosphere of the cell. As the volatile solvent or mixtureof such solvents (A) evaporates, each isolated fibre solidifies andacquires consistency. From the moment this consistency is recognized asbeing sufficient, the

isolated fibres may be gathered together in one or more filaments, whichare taken out of the cell by one or more orifices and by means of anysuitable means.

By providing, if desired, glass panels in the walls of the cell, theworking of the spinning apparatus may be inspected.

Doors or other openings suitably disposed make it possible to remedy anydefective working. One or more of these, disposed at the height of thedie or dies, make it possible to clear any obstructed orifice, or toreplace a defective die or portion of die. To facilitate this operation,the die or dies may be movable round one or several vertical axes, so asto bring, when required, each of their essential parts opposite thecorresponding opening. One or more other openings or doors make itpossible to re unite to the filament one or more isolated fibres whichmight have got broken, or yet to take up again the filament itself ifquite broken to lead it again out of the cell, or finally to clean thecell or to carry out any other operations which might be necessary orrequired.

Any other accessory apparatus may also be placed inside the cell, forany required purpose. Lastly, each cell may be isolated from the othercells, or on the contrary, any number of cells may be grouped togetherto form as many compartments of a spinning machine.

None of the apparatus actually known, of the general type abovedescribed, al lows at the same time the automatic reuniting of theisolated fibres in threads or filaments and the automatic or practicallyautomatic exit outside the cell of the filament or filaments obtained.

I have found that these results may be obtained as follows.

For the sake of clearness, each die or set of dies used for thepreparation of a single filament is called hereafter a die unit. In theapparatus which is the object of the present invention there may be onlya die unit in each cell, but there may be also in each cell any numberof die units. In this case each of them is sufliciently distant from theothers to allow the regular working of the device, which will bedescribed in connection with one of them only.

Below the die unit, or each of them, and at a suitable distance, issituated a kind of conical funnel, the apex of which is directeddownwards and the rim of which is sufiiciently wide and is suitablyplaced, so

that any isolated fibre issuing from the die unit and falling inside thecell meets the inside of the said funnel. The said fibre is, in thismanner, led naturally towards the apex and, on its way, it meets otherisolated fibres with which it unites, or else the remainder of thefilament, with which it unites and which carries it along towards theapex.

At the apex is placed the orifice from which the filament issues outsidethe cell, this orifice being suitably shaped to this end. It will beunderstood that it will be sufficient that asingle isolated fibre. and afortiori, severalunited fibres, should issue from the cell through thisopening in order that the whole filament, with all the fibres producedby the orifices of the die unit should also be carried out of the cell.lVhen starting, or if the whole filament breaks inside the cell, it willthen be sufficient, in order to cause the whole filament to come out, tobring out of the cell a single isolated fibre, whether it issuesnaturally through the outlet orifice, or is pulled from the outsidethrough this orifice by means of a little hook .or otherwise, or yet byputting it there after having opened a little window passing through theoutlet orifice, or in any other suitable manner.

While the apparatus is working, and if thethread breaks outside thecell, this operation will not be necessary. Even if the fibres have beendeposited anyhow at the bottom of the funnel, during a relatively longtime, it will be sufiicient to puli on the end of the filament whichissues from the cell to bring rapidly the regular filament outside theoutlet opening.

Besides, known winding or mechanically propelling devices can bearranged, if desired, under this opening, to collect the thread afterbreakage and avoid, in the pre ceding case, the deposit of fibres on thebot tom of the apparatus.

Of course, after the exit or after the winding and propelling devicesmentioned above, the thread will be guided towards all the usual knownarrangements of spindle or reeling frame or both simultaneously, orothers, after having been submitted, if required, to operations ofstretching or traction, of moistening, of impregnating or any otherdesired treatment.

The advantages of the arrangements, ob ject of the present invention,will be readily appreciated. Not only a considerable loss -of time andmuch labor will be avoided when starting the spinning machines, which isof primary importance, but this same lessening of time and labor will beobtained in case of any incident or accident of manufacture, such, forinstance, as the breakage, involuntary or even voluntary, of the fibresor filaments. Moreover, the proportion of waste not directly utilizablewill be thereby reduced. It is well known that such breakages,voluntarily done, are frequent, for instance, to allow a change of thebobbins of the spindle or the reeling frame.

The fact that it is not necessary to open wide apertures to attend tothe incidents or accidents of manufacture will often limit their extentor their gravity, for it is known that the draught of air, resultingtherefrom,

is not always without danger to the uniformity of the spinning,especially when the isolated fibres which it is sought to obtain arevery fine.

Finally it is known that the introduction of air resulting from suchapertures, with which one has had to put up hitherto, is not withoutinconvenience for the easy and complete recuperation of the volatilesolvent or solvents (A) made use of in the manufacturing process.

As an example, a process and apparatus of manufacture, according to thisinvention, will be described hereafter, being an appliation of these tothe manufacture of artificial silk from solutions of cellulose acetatein mixtures of ethyl alcohol and acetone, it being well understood thatthis illustration by no means limits the scope of-the invention, eitherin respect of the materials used and the resulting product or in whatconcerns any one detail of the parts and mate rials which constitute theapparatus, accord ing to the invention, the general character of thelatter having been described above.

For greater simplicity, the description will be limited to a single dieunit. The case of several cells containing one or more die units, iseasily deduced by a generalization within reach of any person verseftinthe art.

Referring to the appended drawing, Fig. 1 is an elevation of this cellunit, Fig. 2 being a vertical section of this cell. In this drawing, 1is the wall of the cell, supposed cylindrical and of metal and formed ofsections 1 and 1 suitably assembled together, the whole being supportedby a suitable stand not shown. 2, 2 represent double heating walls, withan adjustable hot water circulation entering by the piping 3, 3 andleaving by the piping 4, 4; these walls being ther mally insulatedexternally by laggings 5, 5. The two double heating walls may be inseries, or, on the other hand, independent, and heated at equal orditlerent temperatures. Thermometers 6, 6, placed at different levels,permit the temperature inside the cell being watched. 7 represents a dieunit formed of several elementary dies 7, 7, and movable about its axis8 in the stuffing box 9. It receives the solution of cellulose acetatein a suitable mixture of ethyl alcohol and acetone, which it is requiredto spin, through a piping 10 coming from any suitable arrangement forfiltration, putting under pressure, etc. 11 represents the conical metalpart of the funnel. on the polished inside of which the spun fibres canslide. 12 is the outlet opening for the thread, provided in a piece ofbronze 13, made in two parts, and placed at the apex of the conicalportion. 14 is a door, in the conical portion, attached to one of theparts of the bronze piece 13.

The dotted lines 15, 15 represent isolated fibres forming, by beingunited together, the thread 16 which, after passing through the deliverydevice 17, is taken to any desired or suitable apparatus. 18 is a rollerplaced under the orifice 12, and mechanically driven by any known means(not shown) on g I i which the thread 16 winds when it is broken outsidethe cell, voluntarily or involuntarily. 19 is a small door giving accessto the die 7 or to one of its parts. 20 is, on Fig. 1, a glass panelallowing observation of the spinning operations. The air which hasentered into the cell by the exit orifice 12 becomes laden therein ithvolatile vapors and is aspirated by the tube 21 at the top of theapparatus. The working of this apparatus is clear from the descriptionand from the preceding explanations.

I am aware that in similar apparatus heretofore proposed, tunnel orconical shaped bottoms have been provided. In all of such apparatus,however, because of the fact that the bottoms were placed immediatelybelow the die, the wet filaments or fibres as they left the die adheredto the conical wall of the funnel-shaped member and would not pass downto the exit opening. For this reason it was necessary to provide meansfor forcing the fibres to travel toward the opening without touching thewall of the conical member. In the ap aratus herein described, however,the funnelshaped member is disposed at such a distance below the die,that the filaments are dry before they reach the wall of thetunnel-shaped member. Consequently, the filaments reaching this wallhave completely lost their tacky exterior condition so that even it theytouch the wall they will not adhere to said wall but will readily slidethereon toward the openin This drying action is greatly assisted byprovision for heating the cylindrical chamber as described and shownherein.

TVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. An apparatusfor dry spinning artificial filaments, comprising, a die unit, means forsupplying a viscous material to said die unit, a drying chamber belowsaid die unit, and a funnel-shaped member in communication with thelower end of said drying chamber and provided with an outlet orifice atits apex for discharging the filaments issuing from the die unit, theorganization being such that the filaments will be dry before reachingthe tunnel-shaped member.

2. An apparatus for dry spinning artificial filaments, comprising avertical chamber closed at its upper end, a die unit disposed withinsaid chamber adjacent to its upper end, means for supplying a viscousmaterial to said die unit, and a funnelshaped member closing the lowerend of said chamber, said member being provided with an outlet orificeat its apex.

3. An apparatus for dry spinning artificial filaments, comprising, a dieunit, means for supplying a viscous material to said die unit, a dryingchamber below said die unit, a funnel-shaped member in communicationwith the lower end of said drying chamber from the die unit, theorganization being such that the filaments will be dry before reachingthe funnel-shaped member, and a hinged member for controlling saidorifice.

5. In the dry-spinning of artificial filaments the process of collectingisolated filaments, which consists in causing said filaments in drycondition to fall on a conical wall thereby causing the filaments toslide toward each other.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

EDMOND PRINCE.

